Meta Hrovat takes the slalom and Lars Rösti wins the gold medal in the downill

The Slovenian Meta Hrovat is the queen at the Junior World Championships again, which today also awarded the first men gold medal - in the downhill discipline - which was conquered by the Swiss Lars Rösti.

Meta Hrovat confirmed to be the queen gaining again the world title won twelve months ago in Davos, leaving behind the Swiss Aline Danioth and the surprising Swedish Elsa Haakansson Fermbaeck. Leading the race from the first heat, Hrovat redeemed the crash it had in the giant slalom on Tuesday. Determined and focussed, the Slovenian showed an excellent feeling with the Aloch track of Pozza di Fassa and did not give the right of reply to the opponents, crossing the finish line in 1'47"70 with a margin of 0"89 on Aline Danioth, bronze medallist last year in Davos and recently world champion in the Team Event at the World Championships in Aare. Third, with a gap of 1"28, the Swedish Haakanson Fermbaeck, the real surprise of the day.

Starting with bib number 18, the Scandinavian was able to rank fourth after the first run, then climbed a step further the ranking and conquered an unexpected bronze medal.

The Swiss Camille Rast, who lost the third position in the second heat, slip to the sixth place, overtaken also by the Slovenian Dvornik (fourth at 1"33) and by the Italian Della Mea (fifth at 1"85).

For Hrovat, already on the podium in the World Cup in January 2018 in the giant of Lenzerheide, the second world title comes just days after her birthday. "After the disappointment in the giant I wanted to redeem myself - explained the Slovenian - the last few weeks have been particularly difficult and demanding: I was a bit disappointed by the World Cup in Aare and the exit in the giant on Tuesday. My World Cup ends here: now I take a few days to rest, try to recover from the foot problem that has plagued me in the last period and train in view of the last two stages of the World Cup.

On La VolatA slope of Passo San Pellegrino, the first men race took place, which gave Switzerland its 55th junior world title in its history with the success of Lars Rösti, already bronze medallist last year in Davos. The 21-year-old Swiss follows his compatriot Marco Odermatt in the wall of fame. HE ranked second and fifth in the two trainings, Rösti found the perfect performance in the day that counts and scored the best time (1'20"21), managing to keep behind the two Austrians Julian Schütter and Manuel Traninger, detached by 12 and 45 cents. The young Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath ranked fourth for just one cent. "The track was perfect, I found an ideal feeling with the track - explains the winner - I pushed from the first to the last meter of the race. The level was very high: we saw it during the training sessions and we have seen it again today. I was already on the podium at the Junior World Ski Championship last year, but putting the gold medal around my neck is something wonderful. Now I think about the superG: would you like to know which is my goal? Trying to win another medal on a slope that I like".

Tomorrow the men superG medals will be awarded again on La VolatA track of Passo San Pellegrino. The first athlete is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.

Release by JWSC Val di Fassa

Results: JWSC Ladies' SL  /  JWSC Men's DH